Available-car elevator system

ABSTRACT

The floors of a structure having multiple elevator cars are divided into a plurality of zones. When a demand for service is registered from a floor, an available car is assigned to the zone of the demand for the purpose of answering the demand. A car making its last stop in the up direction may become available even though an up floor call is registered in a higher zone. For a down-traveling car a detector responsive to presence of a passenger may prevent selection of the car as available. Registration of a floor call for a predetermined variable time makes it a priority call. A car is selected for basement service in a predetermined order of preference. Under certain conditions, if no car is at or assigned to a certain floor a car may be assigned to such floor. Under emergency conditions each available car may be assigned successively to certain calls.

United States Patent [72] Inventors John Suouo;

Henry C. Savino, both of Hackensack, NJ. [2|] Appl. No. 832,577 [22]Filed June 12, 1969 I .Piris efi s 9- 05 2 395-202195 Pat. No.3,509,969, which is a continuationin-part of Ser. No. 94,723, Mar. T0,'196'1, Pat. No. 3,256,958, and a continuation-inpart of Ser. No.110,464, May 16, 1961, Pat. No. 3,292,736. @[45] Patented June 15, 1971[73] Assignee Westinghouse Electric Corporation Pittsburgh, Pa.

[54] AVAILABLE-CAR ELEVATOR SYSTEM 14 Claims, 29 Drawing Figs.

' [52] 0.8. (I l87/29R [5 l] Int. Cl B66!) 1/22 [50] Field of Search[87/29 CONTROLLER CONTROLLER CONTROLLER 56] References Cited UNITEDSTATES PATENTS 3,187,843 6/1965 Magee 187/29 Primary Examiner- Oris L.Rader Assistant Examiner-W. E. Duncanson, Jr. Att0meysA. T. Stratton andC. L' Freedman ABSTRACT: The floors of a structure having multipleelevator cars are divided into a plurality of zones. When a demand forservice is registered from a floor, an available car is assigned to thezone of the demand for the purpose of answering the demand. A car makingits last stop in the up direction may become available even though an upfloor call is registered in a higher zone. For a down-traveling car adetector responsive to presence of a passenger may prevent selection ofthe car as available. Registration of a floor call for a predeterminedvariable time makes it a priority call. A car is selected for basementservice in a predetermined order of preference. Under certainconditions, if no car is at or assigned to a certain floor a car may beassigned to such floor. Under emergency conditions each available carmay be assigned successively to certain calls.

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1. In an elevator system for a structure having a plurality ofvertically spaced floors including a first terminal floor, a secondterminal floor and a plurality of floors intermediate said terminalfloors, said floors being arranged in a plurality of zones spacedvertically, each of said zones containing a plurality of said floors, aplurality of elevator cars, means mounting the elevator cars formovement relative to the structure to serve the floors, down floor callregistering means operable for registering a call for down elevatorservice from each of a plurality of said floors, up floor callregistering means operable for registering a call for up elevatorservice from each of a plurality of said floors, car call registeringmeans for each of the elevator cars operable for registering a call foreach of a plurality of said floors which may be desired by load in theassociated elevator car, selecting means for selecting an available oneof the elevator cars to leave one of said floors, one of said carstraveling in the up direction becoming available for selection by theselecting means while adjacent a floor intermediate the terminal flooRsafter such car has answered the last call for a floor ahead of the carregistered by its car call registering means, and provided that no callis registered by the up floor call registering means for a floor aheadof the elevator car in the zone containing the floor for which the lastcar call was answered by such car during its up travel, and meansresponsive to registration by the up floor call registering means of acall for a floor ahead of the last-named elevator car in the zonecontaining the floor for which the last car call was answered by suchcar for rendering such car unavailable for selection by the selectionmeans, the presence of a call registered by the up floor callregistering means for a floor above the last-named zone beingineffective to prevent the selection of the last-named car by theselecting means, the selecting means comprising assigning means forassigning an available car selected by the selecting means to answer acall for service registered by one of the down floor call registeringmeans at an intermediate one of the floors.
 2. In a load transportingsystem for a structure having a plurality of stations, a plurality ofcars for transporting load, means mounting the cars for movementrelative to the structure to serve the stations, first station callregistering means for registering a call for service in a firstdirection from each of a plurality of said stations, each of said carsunder predetermined conditions being available for selection andassignment to proceed to a specific zone containing a call registered bythe call registering means, and control means for moving each of thecars and for stopping each of the cars traveling in the first directionat a station approached by such car for which a call is registered bythe call registering means for service in the first direction, saidcontrol means including first means responsive to registration of a callby the call registering means for selecting and assigning one of theavailable cars to proceed to a specific zone containing such call, andfailure means responsive to a predetermined failure of a car to beselected and assigned by said first means to answer a call registered bythe call registering means for sending an available car to answer suchcall.
 3. A system as claimed in claim 2 wherein said failure meanscomprises means responsive to said failure for successively assigningeach of the available cars to the farthest station in a second directionopposite to said first direction for which a call is registered by thefirst station call registering means to provide service in the firstdirection for such call.
 4. A system as claimed in claim 3 incombination with means responsive to the answer of all calls registeredby the station call registering means for terminating said successiveassignment.
 5. A system as claimed in claim 2 wherein said failure meansis responsive to a failure only for a duration in excess of apredetermined time.
 6. A system as claimed in claim 2 wherein saidfailure means is responsive to a predetermined failure of a car to beselected and assigned to answer a plurality of calls registered by thecall registering means for assigning certain of the available cars tothe farthest station in a second direction opposite to said firstdirection and certain of the available cars to a station displaced inthe first direction from such farthest station for which calls areregistered by the first station call registering means to provideservice in the first direction for such calls.
 7. In a load transportingsystem for a structure having a plurality of stations including aprimary station and a plurality of first stations displaced in a firstdirection from the primary station, a plurality of cars for transportingload, means mounting the cars for movement relative to the structure toserve the stations, first station call registering means for registeringa call for service in the first direction from each of a plurality ofsaid stations, one of the cars when located at the primary station whenavailable being selected as the next car to leave the primary station,and control means for moving each of the cars and for stopping each ofthe cars traveling in the first direction at a station approached bysuch car for which a call is registered by the call registering meansfor service in the first direction, said control means includingauxiliary means responsive when a call is registered by the callregistering means to a predetermined failure of an available one of thecars to be assigned to another such call for dispatching successivelyeach of the next cars from the primary station.
 8. A system as claimedin claim 7 in combination with means responsive to the answering of allcalls registered by the call registering means for terminating thesuccessive dispatching of the next cars by the auxiliary means.
 9. Asystem as claimed in claim 7 in combination with second station callregistering means operable for registering a call for service in asecond direction from each of a plurality of said stations, car callregistering means for each of the cars operable for registering a callfor each of a plurality of said stations which may be desired by load inthe associated car, said control means comprising means for stoppingeach of the cars approaching a station for which a car call isregistered by the car call registering means or a call is registered bythe station call registering means requiring service in the direction oftravel of the car, means for designating each car under predeterminedconditions as available for assignment to answer calls, means responsiveto registration of a call by the second station call registering meansfor assigning an available one of the cars to answer such call, andmeans responsive to failure of an available car to be assigned to answerthe last named call for a predetermined time for conditioning theavailable ones of the cars successively to proceed to stations displacedfrom said end station in the first direction to provide service in thesecond direction.
 10. In a load transporting system for a structurehaving a plurality of stations, car means comprising a load car fortransporting load, means mounting the car for movement relative to thestructure to serve the stations, calling means comprising first stationcall registering means for registering a call for service in a firstdirection from each of a plurality of said stations, control means formoving the car and for stopping the car when traveling in the firstdirection at a station approached by the car for which a call isregistered by the call registering means, priority means for each of thecall registering means responsive to a first predetermined condition fordesignating a call registration by the associated call registering meansas a priority call registration, modifying means responsive to apriority call registration for modifying the operation of said car, andaltering means responsive to a second predetermined condition forcausing the priority means to respond to a condition which differs fromthe first predetermined condition.
 11. A system as claimed in claim 10wherein said system is an elevator system, said stations beingvertically spaced floors of the structure, said car means comprising aplurality of elevator cars independently mounted for movement to servethe stations similarly to said load car, said calling means comprisingdown floor call registering means operable for registering a call fordown elevator service from each of a plurality of said floors, up floorcall registering means operable for registering a call for up elevatorservice from each of a plurality of said floors, car call registeringmeans for each of the elevator cars operable for registering a call foreach of a plurality of said floors which may be desired by load in theassociated elevator car, said control means controlling the elevatorcars to provide a first service for calls registered by the callregisterIng means, said priority means being responsive to a firstpredetermined condition for designating a call registered by certain ofsaid registering means as a priority call registration, said modifyingmeans being responsive to operation of the priority means forcontrolling said cars to provide a second service for calls registeredby the call registering means, and said altering means being responsiveto a second predetermined condition for modifying the firstpredetermined condition to which the priority means responds.
 12. Asystem as claimed in claim 11 wherein said first service is suitable forbalanced traffic in the two directions, said second service beingsuitable for traffic which is predominantly in one direction, said firstpredetermined condition being call registration in excess of apredetermined time, said second service being preferential service forthe priority call registration, and said altering means being responsiveto transfer of the control means from the first to the second conditionfor increasing the time value of said predetermined time.
 13. In a loadtransporting system for a structure having a plurality of stations, carmeans comprising a load car for transporting load, means mounting thecar for movement relative to the structure to serve the stations,calling means comprising first station call registering means forregistering a call for service in a first direction from each of aplurality of said stations, control means for moving the car and forstopping the car when traveling in the first direction at a stationapproached by the car for which a call is registered by the callregistering means, priority means responsive to a first predeterminedcondition for designating a call registration by the call registeringmeans as a priority call registration, modifying means responsive to apriority call registration for modifying the operation of said car, andaltering means responsive to a second predetermined condition foraltering the first predetermined condition, said system being anelevator system, said stations being vertically spaced floors of thestructure, said car means comprising a plurality of elevator carsindependently mounted for movement to serve the stations similarly tosaid load car, said calling means comprising down floor call registeringmeans operable for registering a call for down elevator service fromeach of a plurality of said floors, up floor call registering meansoperable for registering a call for up elevator service from each of aplurality of said floors, car call registering means for each of theelevator cars operable for registering a call for each of a plurality ofsaid floors which may be desired by load in the associated elevator car,said control means controlling the elevator cars to provide a firstservice for calls registered by the call registering means, saidpriority means being responsive to a first predetermined condition fordesignating a call registered by certain of said registering means as apriority call registration, said modifying means being responsive tooperation of the priority means for controlling said cars to provide asecond service for calls registered by the call registering means, andsaid altering means being responsive to a second predetermined conditionfor modifying the first predetermined condition to which the prioritymeans responds, said first predetermined condition being a predeterminedcall registration by the call registering means in excess of apredetermined time, said second service providing preferential servicefor the priority call registration, said altering means comprisingservice means operable for removing one of the elevator cars fromservice, and means responsive to operation of the service means toremove an elevator car from service for increasing the time value ofsaid predetermined time.
 14. A system as claimed in claim 13 whereinsaid altering means comprises preferential means operable for providingpreferred elevator service for certain of said floors, time meansresponsive to time periods for providing preferential service to certainof said floors, and means for altering the time value of saidpredetermined time in response to each of the following: A. operation ofthe control means from the first condition to the second condition; B.operation of the preferential means; C. operation of the time means forproviding preferential service.